Ilex verticillata cultivar Kolmber.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Ilex plant, botanically known as Ilex verticillata, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Kolmberxe2x80x99.
The new Ilex was discovered as a cross-pollination of two unidentified selections of Ilex verticillata, not patented. The new Ilex was discovered and selected by the Inventor in 1997 as a single flowering plant in a controlled environment in Boskoop, The Netherlands, within a population of the progeny resulting from the cross-pollination.
Asexual reproduction of the new Ilex by cuttings was first conducted in Boskoop, The Netherlands in 1997. Since then, asexual reproduction by cuttings has shown that the unique features of this new Ilex are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The cultivar Kolmber has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature and light intensity without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Kolmberxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Kolmberxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct Ilex:
1. Upright plant habit.
2. Freely branching growth habit.
3. Freely flowering habit.
4. Numerous orange red-colored drupes.
Plants of the new Ilex differ primarily from plants of the parent selections and other known selections and cultivars of Ilex verticillata primarily in growth habit.